Analysis

India Votes: Shahabuddin’s Appeal to all Secular/Democratic Parties

The Milli Gazette Online

Published Online: Apr 09, 2014

New Delhi: Syed Shahabuddin, ex-MP and former president of AIMMM, issued the following press note on 9 April, 2014:

In the General Election 2014, BJP is trying to write a new history in independent India. Not only its prospective Prime Minister Modi is the first RSS pracharak to stand for the post but also because his entire election is powered by the Corporate Sector, propelled by the RSS and organised directly by the candidate. No doubt if Modi wins, secular India shall turn into Hindu Rashtra, thus fulfilling the dreams of Savarkar and Golwarkar.

For the first time, violating the undertaking given to the then Home Minister Sardar Patel in 1949, the RSS has come out into the open to guide its political party, the BJP, at every step.

In 1996, the BJP made an impact for the first time and in every subsequent election it has openly propagated its ideological and political views, slowly moving towards the achievement of its basic goal: to gain full control of the central government. The BJP feels that now its time has come.

BJP wants to repeat Germany of 1933, in India of 2014, when Hitler came to power in Germany in 1933 through a democratic election. The only way to avoid it is by all democratic secular forces voting unitedly and massively to defeat the BJP candidates, out of love for their motherland.

Under the BJP, loktantra shall turn into Brahmanvad, enact laws in accordance with the Manusmriti and not the principles enshrined in the Constitution. Such government shall violate the basic principles of our citizenship -- Freedom, Equality, Justice -- and shall discriminate against citizens on the basis of religion, sect, caste and domicile. It will be a Hindu state and deprive non-Hindus from economic benefits and social progress and treat them as second class citizens, if not foreigners.

This is the Moment of Truth for all democratic forces to take cognizance of the threat, set aside their political and ideological differences and join hands and stop the march of Hindutva Rath.

To ensure victory of Secularism and the defeat of the BJP, all secular parties, national or regional, must withdraw from the election arena from the seats which they never won even once since 1952 and which they are not likely to win in 2014, in favour of another secular party which has won it at least during the last general election of 2009. The parties which withdraw from the contest should remain certain that their sacrifice for the cause of Democracy shall be rewarded by the people of India when time comes.

To arrive at a simple formula because the time is short, the secular and democratic parties do not need a common manifesto or to conduct joint electoral campaign or commit themselves to form an alliance or after the election a government but they should in principle agree to join a coalition government after the general election leaving the question of leadership to be decided after the election.

MAGIC FORMULA FOR DEFEATING THE BJP

The BJP had won only 116 out of 433 it contested in 2009 on 18.8% votes. It lost most to INC.But INC has already shed its hegemonic tendencies. So should the Left its ambitions, the Janta Parivar should do away with their obsessions with the anti-Congress rhetoric, and with political one-upmanship.

· Let each secular party contest only the seat it won in 2009.

· Also, let each concentrate on defeating the BJP in the seat it had lost to the BJP or its allies in 2009.

· Let few seats which will remain be divided among the Secular parties by consensus, in terms of social demography, their own social base and availability of suitable candidate.

If the secular and democratic parties can come to such an understanding, they shall win against BJP by a high margin, supported by all deprived sections of our country.

Syed Shahabuddin

IFS (Retd.), Ex-MP

404, Block 8, East End Apts.,

Mayur Vihar-I Extn., Delhi-110096

E-mail: syedshahabuddinexmp@gmail.com

Website: www.syedshahabuddin.com

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